Before proceeding with this matter, Ye Shuang still wanted to ask Bai Yuyou for her opinion. Although he knew very well that Yuyou had suffered in her earlier years, he couldn’t simply disregard her feelings and whisk her away without her consent.
Though, this girl would probably be more than willing to follow him.
After strolling around outside for a while, the group had a meal of frog hotpot before returning to the residential complex.
As they entered the building, Ye Shuang suddenly noticed a stranger standing in front of his door, frowning while holding a key.
It was a middle-aged woman in her forties, dressed in professional attire, her expression weary.
Yuyou’s… mother?
That was Ye Shuang’s first thought—
Perhaps sensing movement behind her, the woman turned around and immediately fixed her gaze on Bai Yuyou. “Hmm?”
“Bai Yuyou, did you change the lock on the door?” The woman clearly knew Yuyou. As soon as she spoke, she noticed Ye Shuang. “And who are you?!”
Before Ye Shuang could respond, Bai Yuyou whispered, “Aunt…”
Aunt?
Hearing this, Ye Shuang realized she might not be Bai Yuyou’s mother but rather an aunt or some other relative.
Some of his earlier doubts dissipated. He remembered that when he first moved in, there were signs of use in the kitchen—yet Bai Yuyou didn’t cook, and the timeline of her parents’ departure didn’t match the traces left behind.
“You—” Before Bai Meiling could continue, Ye Shuang took out his key and opened the door. “Let’s talk inside.”
Once inside, Bai Meiling was momentarily taken aback by the warm and tidy state of the apartment. But she quickly deduced it was Ye Shuang’s doing. Suddenly, her expression darkened, and she stormed into Bai Yuyou’s bedroom.
A few seconds later, she emerged, furious. “Where’s the money?!”
“What happened to all the cash in this house?!”
Ye Shuang remained calm, his gaze as still as a lake. “It’s all been deposited in the bank for safekeeping.”
“You put all that cash in the bank?!” Bai Meiling paled, as if struck by a terrifying thought.
Her reaction only confirmed Ye Shuang’s suspicions. His tone cooled. “What’s the problem? Money in the bank can still be withdrawn. Unless… it’s dirty money?”
“How dare you?!” His words struck a nerve, and Bai Meiling pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the police! You broke into this house and stole money!”
Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou stood side by side, unfazed, as if watching a movie.
“Bai Yuyou, are you stupid? Why are you standing with him?” Bai Meiling snapped. “Come here.”
The girl, however, whispered, “No…” and moved even closer to Ye Shuang.
“You—!”
Ye Shuang cut in, “If you can’t dial, I’ll do it for you.”
Bai Meiling’s face twisted in frustration. She hesitated, wrestling with something internally—before finally giving up and lowering her phone.
“Sit. I have questions for you,” Ye Shuang said, settling onto the sofa.
His demeanor made it seem as though he were the master of the house, his presence overwhelming Bai Meiling. At that moment, he was like a quiet lion, ready to bare his fangs at any second.
“Are you Yuyou’s biological aunt?” His first question visibly unsettled her.
“I—I am,” Bai Meiling stammered.
Then she fired back, “And who are you?! Why are you here?!”
“You could say I’m taking care of Yuyou now,” Ye Shuang replied.
“No! I won’t allow it!”
Watching her agitation, Ye Shuang merely smiled faintly. “I’m just informing you. Later, I’ll take her to the police station to have her blood sample recorded in the anti-trafficking database.”
“Don’t get worked up. Just tell me what you know.”
Bai Meiling fell silent.
Unfazed, Ye Shuang softened his tone and turned to Bai Yuyou. “Yuyou, pour two glasses of water.”
The girl nodded and returned with two cups—one for Ye Shuang, one for Bai Meiling.
“Aunt… drink water…”
“…” Bai Meiling’s expression crumpled further, as if Bai Yuyou’s gesture had pierced her. “What a sin…”
“What a sin…”
Ye Shuang wasn’t in a hurry. From Bai Meiling’s earlier reaction, he was already 70-80% certain of his suspicions.
Bai Yuyou had been trafficked.
Given the couple’s history of borrowing money, that large sum of cash couldn’t have been theirs. It might have belonged to Bai Yuyou’s real parents—or been obtained through other shady means.
But because the money was dirty, they didn’t dare deposit it, likely using cash in secret.
And after Bai Laoqi was imprisoned, his wife, fearing exposure, might have panicked—abandoning the money and Bai Yuyou to flee elsewhere.
Of course, this was all speculation.
Still, Ye Shuang felt a quiet relief. If Bai Yuyou’s real parents were out there, it was less horrifying than the alternative—the thought of a mother locking her own child in an attic like a pet for years was far more monstrous.
Even wild beasts don’t harm their young.
Yet some parents fail spectacularly. You need a license to drive, but anyone can become a parent.
Thinking of Bai Yuyou confined in that dark attic for eight years, perhaps wondering why she was caged like an animal—
No matter how much she cried out, no one ever came to help.
“What a sin,” Ye Shuang murmured, echoing Bai Meiling’s words.
Bai Meiling studied him deeply before finally relenting—
She was Bai Laoqi’s sister. She didn’t know much, but she confirmed that Bai Yuyou had been brought home one day by Bai Laoqi—along with the money.
According to her, Bai Laoqi quickly regretted it, living in constant fear. And as Bai Yuyou grew older, his wife, terrified she might remember her past, locked her away under the pretense of mental illness.
After Bai Laoqi was imprisoned, their fear peaked. His wife, worried he might talk, moved houses—eventually abandoning both the money and Bai Yuyou to work in another city.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
